Media contacts:
Kathleen Floyd, WBNG Communications: kfloyd@wbng.org
Hachette Workers Coalition: info@hachetteworkers.com
More than 600 workers at Hachette Book Group, the third-largest trade publisher in the United States, voted in a decisive victory 388-130 to unionize with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The newly certified Hachette Workers Coalition will now begin negotiating its first collective bargaining agreement with the company.
Hachette workers are now the largest union in trade publishing history and the second of the Big Five publishers to unionize.
“This is the culmination of years of hard work by employees who came together to fight for better working conditions for ourselves and the publishing industry as a whole,” said Brenna Haney a metadata associate in digital sales. “We withstood months of anti-union campaigning from the company, and today, we march forward united, ready to bargain for better benefits, stronger protections, and increased equity, transparency, and agency in our workplace.”
“We now go into negotiations with a strong mandate from our coworkers,” said Maisa Nammari, a production associate. “Hachette workers have shown that we reject a publishing industry model that prioritizes corporate profits while actively undermining our career growth and making it increasingly difficult for us to support ourselves and our families. We will build a better Hachette and set new standards that benefit the whole company. When workers tap into our collective bargaining power, change is possible! A publishing model that protects the integrity of workers and enables us to work with passion and dignity, is within our reach!”
Throughout the campaign, workers received support from elected officials, former employees, authors, readers, booksellers, and labor organizations nationwide, including New York State Representative Claire Valdez, State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assemblymember Pharra Souffrant Forrest, State Senator Julia Salazar, and authors Rebecca Traister, Owen King, Kelly Link, Chuck Wendig, Malcolm Harris, Lauren Groff, R.O. Kwon, Alix E. Harrow, Rachel Gillig, Samira Ahmed, Alexander Chee, TJ Alexander, and Celeste Ng.
“We look forward to meeting management at the bargaining table, and we have every expectation that we can come together in good faith to build a groundbreaking first contract that, by uplifting workers, will allow both Hachette and the wider publishing industry to flourish.” said Eric Arroyo, a digital production coordinator.
Workers will meet soon to elect unit-level leadership and prepare for contract negotiations with Hachette management.
To learn more about the organizing campaign that has taken place at Hachette for years, the issues that motivated employees to organize, and the next steps for Hachette Workers Coalition, contact the communications team at info@HachetteWorkers.com.
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About Hachette Workers Coalition
The Hachette Workers Coalition is a union fighting for better benefits, protections, rights and increased equity, transparency, and agency at Hachette Book Group. Check out our website at HachetteWorkers.com and follow us on socials at @HachetteWorkersCoalition on Instagram, @HBGWorkers on X, @HBGWorkers on TikTok, and @HBGWorkers on Bluesky. Email us at info@hachetteworkers.com
About the Washington-Baltimore News Guild
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of The NewsGuild-CWA, is the union for more than 3,000 news, information, nonprofit and labor organization workers in the mid-Atlantic and beyond, including the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, AFL-CIO, Bloomberg and the American Nurses Association.